Begin by outlining and flooding the cookie and let dry overnight. This is especially important if you have bleeding issues.

This is a little off subject, but I wanted to take a second to talk about one of the most important things you as a cookie decorator can do to improve your final product…SKETCH.

People often ask me how I come up with ideas. Truth is, that part comes naturally. However, no matter how great the idea, I’ve learned that taking a minute to sketch out a design can make the difference between a really ugly or really amazing cookies.

Anywho, that said, once the icing is dry, add the facial features. This part is really simple. Black 20-second icing for the nose, piping icing for the eyes and mouth, and gray icing for ears.

I’m also big on adding a little “sparkle” when I make eyes. Use white piping or flood icing.

Mr. Bear is good as is, but I was in the mood for a little extra cuteness so I used pink petal dust and a cotton swab to give his cheeks a bit of color.

When applying and kind of color in this manner, GO EASY. Too little is better than too much. I usually get the best results working out of the lid of each color rather than the actual container.

In this case the dust is applied dry although you can also use an alcohol based liquid to create a wet solution, which you can read about HERE.

Remember I mentioned going easy? That isn’t because I don’t trust you, it’s because this is one of the most common mistakes I make. If you go overboard or get dust in a funky place it isn’t usually easy to fix, so be careful.

If you manage to go overboard try not to panic. The situation isn’t completely hopeless. A few years a friend of mine suggested using a tissue dipped into a bit of cornstarch to blend overly intense color. It’s not a cure all, but in my experience it does help.

There you have it, Mr. Bear. Cute and easy too!

And since all cuddly bears need friends, I made sure he had a few.

These are the cutters I used. The tree was an eBay find, the sunflower from THIS SET, a bunch of random snowflakes {pretty easy to find}, a couple of egg cutters, and of course my froggie.

Keep in mind, if you don’t have the exact sunflower/sun cutter I used any flower cutter makes for adorable Eskimo cookies.